Finding and retaining top sales performers is among the top three challenges that CEOs face today. With skilled candidates being in high demand and those candidates being picky about where they choose to work, the battle to attract, recruit and retain top performers is more intense than ever. A McKinsey study highlights that higher performing […]

What do you think of recruiters? Like any professional service (real estate sales, used car sales, lawyers) the recruitment profession is marred with it’s fair share of horror stories. Three common mistakes recruiters make: They do not understand the role and its problems and therefore cannot make the best selection for the client. They […]

The CEO asks his Sales Director, “What happens if we invest in developing and training our sales people and then they leave the company?” The Sales Director answers, “What happens if we don’t, and they stay?” Most people got into the sales profession at the beginning or some stage of their career and have since […]

Just as seasons are predictable, most companies and teams have a predictable turnover ratio depending on the demographic make-up of their employees. This can range from 5% to 30% per year. Yet, a number of managers only wake up to the task of recruiting when the dreaded ‘resignation’ email pops up in their inbox. Then […]

Top sales performers move from opportunity to opportunity. What can you offer? Here are some of the most frequent reasons why candidates withdraw from an interview process: Your presentation role was uninspiring. The candidates did not see themselves following-the-leader on a journey to earn, learn and grow personally. Your competition, the Sales Manager at the […]

Do you struggle to find people who are a 100% fit for your team’s needs? A senior manager from one of Australia’s biggest employers (and a respected household brand) said to me, “When we are recruiting, we look for and hire people who are 65% ready for the role and demonstrate a strong cultural fit. […]

On Sunday afternoon, my wife asked if I would cut down the diseased grapefruit tree in our backyard. I used my much loved Wolfgarten tree pruning knife, made of German steel, to do the job. As I was sawing back and forth, I thought of how the knife’s small, sharp teeth were so quickly and […]

In January 2000, I took on a new sales territory from a colleague who’d just had a great 1999 in it. This meant that the year ahead was going to be a tough one for me as most opportunities had already been converted into sales. Nonetheless, I began by making 50% more face-to-face appointments than […]

In Part 1, we established that you need to increase your sales activity across the four areas of target databases, leads, prospects and customers. The next step is to increase your sales impact across these sales activities and measure which ones or combinations work best for you. Here are some examples of sales activities: Preparing a database from old business cards, directories, […]

Like many sales people or business owners, you too might feel like you can’t control your sales results. Agreed. But there is no denying that you have 100% control over your sales activity. If you want to build sales momentum, you need to start by increasing your sales activity. Here are four essential areas to […]